


Guess Who

by Aneres, Calicy



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-03
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-28 19:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3866824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aneres/pseuds/Aneres, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calicy/pseuds/Calicy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Spock and Uhura try not to snoop on their daughter's boyfriend and fail miserably.</p><p>Sequel to Wrong Number</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guess Who

Arev sighs enormously. 

 

Spock looks at his son, who is curled up next to him on the couch in their quarters. Spock lays his PADD down and touches his son’s shoulder, “Is something amiss, my Arev?”

 

Arev turns, tilting his face down while looking up at his father so that his eyes are large and emotional. He lifts and drops his shoulders, sighing again before responding in a voice which wavers slightly, “Nothing.”

 

From her chair across the room, Nyota glances up from her work. 

 

“Alright,” Spock says, his eyes not moving from Arev’s, “However, if you did have a personal issue, I would hope that you would feel comfortable confiding in me.”

 

Spock returns to his PADD. Arev stares at his father for several seconds before blurting out, “I do have a problem.”

 

Resting his hand gently on the nape of his son’s neck as he has seen Nyota do when comforting the child, Spock says, “You may share.”

 

Her presentation is due early the next morning but Nyota cannot tear her attention away from the scene before her. There is something exaggerated about Arev’s movements and words. 

 

“Well,” Arev says, groaning much too loudly. He attempts again, “The thing is. . .”

 

Spock waits patiently.

 

“I think I miss Grayson,” Arev says, slapping his hands against his face after the words fly from his mouth. He shakes his head, slapping his cheeks punishingly before looking at his father once more, his eyes wide and woeful.

 

“She is your only sibling. It is only natural that you mourn her absence.”

 

Now Nyota has to roll her eyes. Do they think they are slick? She has seen Spock snapping his PADD shut when she enters the room. She has noticed the way Arev jumps on his communicator like it is a live grenade when she is within a ten foot radius of him.

 

She wouldn’t deny that they might miss Grayson. Her daughter’s presence leaves a noticeable void. 

 

But who did they think they were kidding? Nyota knew better. They wanted to bother her new boyfriend. 

 

“Maybe we could visit her?” Arev says, “Don’t you have shore leave coming up?”

 

 “Indeed we do,” Spock replies.

 

In tandem, they look at her for some form of affirmation. 

 

“Don’t you miss Gray, Mama?” Arev says, his voice soft and mellow. He uses the same tone after he breaks curfew or gets caught doing dangerous experiments in his room. 

 

Nyota shakes her head, wondering if they really do think she is that slow, “You know I do. The leave is from November 2 to the 5. Book the tickets.”

 

She is much better than them, she insists to herself. She does miss her daughter and she does feel some obligation to protect the poor boy who Grayson is dating from her son and husband. 

 

Additionally, it wouldn’t hurt to go and scope him out a bit. After all, she can’t help but be a little concerned that there was no Evander Naccional, age 22, born October 23 in Lima, Peru, in the centralized Universal Criminal Database that she had access to for her work.

 

And there was nothing wrong with searching for the boy in the database either, she assures herself. If he had nothing to hide, he had nothing to fear. 

.

.

.

“Tell me,” Grayson says, her voice like a stern teacher’s. Only minutes prior, it was a gentle kiss but now, now she has demands and her charge is being willful. 

 

“Huh,” Evie says, pulling the last of their laundry from the machine. He holds Grayson’s bra with a curious finger. “How do you fold these?”

 

Grayson plucked the garment from his hands, tucking it into itself. She shows it to Evie before tossing it into the basket. Grayson begins pulling socks from the pile, “You not distracting me you know. Tell me.”

 

“So tiny,” Evie murmurs, looking at a pair of her socks, “My sweetheart, you have baby feet. What size are these?”

 

“Seven,” Grayson says.

 

“What are they in European size?” 

 

“Evie,” Grayson says, a whine creeping into her voice. “I want to know. Tell me.”

 

"Why?" he asks, sorting through their combined mountain of socks.

 

_Because you're Adonis and for the most part I feel like something you'd find mostly in mud. Because it blows my mind that you look at me, let alone cultivate any sort of romantic interest in me. Because I really can't believe you can stand me and my awkwardness for more than eight minutes. Because nothing about this computes in my mind. Because I want you to stay interested in me._

 

"Just because," Grayson says.

 

“So tiny,” Evander says again, comparing one of his own socks to hers.

 

“So gigantic,” Grayson replies.

 

“Seriously. I have to bend in half just to kiss the top of your head,” Evie says, leaning down to press his mouth to the crown of her head, “See?”

 

“Evie.”

 

“Okay,” Evie says, handing her half of a blanket so they can fold it together, “I’ll tell you. I think,” he says, pausing for effect, “I think Alexei and Jory are a weird couple and I don’t think they’re going to last.”

 

“Alright, first of all, don't say inflammatory things like that about my favorite show, especially when you cling to every word during said show," Grayson says, "Second, you're absolutely wrong about Jalexei. They're doing to live and die together forever. And last but not least, tell me, Evie or I will be forced to engage in more extreme tactics." 

 

"Extreme tactics?" Evie says, raising an eyebrow, "Sounds fun. Let's do that."

 

"Evander," Grayson says, "Why wouldn't you tell me."

 

“It's a little weird," Evie says.

 

Instantly a million ideas run through Grayson's head, most of which she had accidentally seen on the Internet or heard during one of Uncle Jim's stories before her parents could hush him. 

 

"Well now, I don't want to know," Grayson says. She sees Evie's eyes soften as if the very idea of her rejecting something of his breaks his heart. She quickly adds, “I need to know.”

 

Evie sighs enormously. He rotates his jaw before he says, his voice barely a whisper, “I like shaving.”

 

“Shaving,” Grayson says.

 

“Yes,” Evie says, waiting for her response. 

 

“Sounds good,” Grayson says. She tries to keep the judgemental undertone out of her voice but her genetics are working against her and it creeps in anyway, “What specifically do you like about that?”

 

Evie gives her a look. Holding up her hands, Grayson says, “Just trying to understand.”

 

“I’d have to demonstrate,” Evie says, “I didn’t see the appeal either until someone showed me the light.”

 

Grayson hops off the dryer where she was sitting and drags him back to her apartment. It takes thirty minutes of persuasion, fifteen minutes of meal prep and eating (for whatever reason, just then, was when Evie felt hungry), and ten more to find everything but finally Evander is ready to show her.

 

She sits on the bathroom counter while Evie kneels before her, his hands reverently rubbing cream over her calves. He’s happy. She can tell by the way his mouth pouts ever so slightly as he goes to work, his fingers massaging her muscles. Evie has such a beautiful mouth and Grayson ducks her head to kiss it because she once spent hours in class watching him as he talked and now she can make fantasy a reality. 

 

Evander smiles against her mouth, his hand gripping her head as he moves to kiss her cheeks and nose. Grayson feels as if she is glowing. Her mind already begins to wander to other rooms in the dorm as Evie draws the razor up her leg. 

 

“I like how smooth the skin gets on your face or your legs, you know?” Evie says, stroking her calves after he is finished. He takes her other leg in hand and begins to replicate his process. 

 

“Sure,” Grayson says, leaning forward. 

 

His hands slips and he knicks the side of her leg. Before she can even notice, he has grabbed some paper to clean the wound. He murmurs a soft apology against her knee as he kisses the skin there to make her feel better. 

 

Grayson barely feels a thing. He is too perfect and she wants to remember forever so when he dumps her she at least has memories. He has curly, thick, dark brown hair which she runs her fingers through. His face has just a little stubble which tickles when she goes to kiss him again. Then his body - and she fully recognizes that this is superficial indeed - his body brings tears to her eyes. He is tall and has the most wonderful skin that she could happily touch forever and he is strong, which would usually unnerve her but she knows without a doubt he would never hurt her.

 

His hands are tracing the lines of her muscles, his grip righting ever so slightly under thigh. He places her leg over his shoulder so her calf dangles over his back and the tender skin of her leg is conveniently close to his lips. He runs his mouth up to the junction between her leg and torso. 

 

"So you get it?" Evie asks, his hand moving to join his lips.

 

Honestly, she still doesn’t but if he’s happy, she is too. 

.

.

.

**See you soon**!!! the text reads

 

“Does she usually use that many exclamation points when she talks to you?” Nyota asks when she looks over Spock’s shoulder to look at the message he received from their daughter.. 

 

“Perhaps she is merely excited to see us as we are to see her?” Arev says, sitting on his communicator which keeps vibrating. 

 

“Perhaps,” Spock says, nodding in agreement, “I look forward to seeing this unknown male. I know this idea is archaic but do you think I will be able to physically intimidate him for the purposes of ensuring he behaves properly around my child?”

 

Nyota bites her lip to prevent herself from smiling, “Yes, Spock. I think you will intimidate him.”

 

Spock nods, pleased with her answer, “Have you been able to reach her? She only seems to respond to written messages.”

 

“That’s weird,” Arev says. He hopes silently that they don’t check the number which he altered. 

 

“No,” Nyota says, “You think we should wait?”

 

Arev holds his breath. Spock shakes his head, “I wish to see Grayson.”

 

Nyota nods vigorously, smiling, “Me too. Are you looking forward to seeing your sister, Arev?”

“Absolutely,” Arev says. His plan is working. They are going to burst into Grayson’s house with no warning. This would teach his sister to send his horrible report card to their parents after he expressly asked her not to. 

. 

. 

.

There is absolutely no way to lay in bed sexily, Grayson decides. 

 

No matter how she folds her arms or arranges her legs or tucks the blanket or places her head on the pillow, she can’t imagine she looks good. It’s a shame really. The whole act of worry about the matter is ruining her haze. She can’t help herself. It just isn’t possible to look good or so she thinks until she looks at Evie sleeping next to her. 

 

The blanket shifted while he slumbers exposing his back, the sight of which quite frankly makes her believe in a higher power. He’s fanned out across the mattress, one hand gripping the bed frame and the other reaching towards her. Annoyingly enough, even his face looks flawless. He doesn’t drool or make stupid expressions. His jaw is clenched slightly, accentuating his jawline. It’s very much unfair, to be honest. 

 

Then, he reaches out and pulls her close. Any pretense of anger she had been cultivating is gone. Her heart sings. 

 

Then her stupid roommate goes and knocks on the door. Grayson glares as she pushes Evie’s hands away. 

 

Shayna takes in the sight of Grayson wearing a shirt backwards and Evie unconscious on the bed and smiles ever so slightly. “Nice one, Uhura.”

 

“Thanks. Can I help you with something?”

 

“Nah. I just wanted to tell you your parents and brother are downstairs.”

 

Grayson bursts through the door, shutting it behind her so fast, her shirt gets caught. As she fights to free herself, she asks, “How long have they been here?”

 

She racks her mind. Did they have a planned visit? Is she so dumb she forgot?

 

“Like forty five minutes?” Shayna says, “I would have told you sooner but it sounded like you were having fun.”

 

It sounded like she was having fun? If Shayna could hear from her room beneath the stairs, there was almost no chance her family couldn't hear in the living room. Grayson yanks until she is finally free and quickly adjusts her shirt. She feels like she has swallowed ice at the very thought that her mother and father and brother might have heard - WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO HER. SHE IS A NICE PERSON. SHE DOESN’T DESERVE THIS.

 

“How do I look?” Grayson asks, trying to smooth her hair which feels tangles under her palm. 

 

“Like you just had sex,” Shayna says. 

 

Grayson shoves past her to go to the bathroom but she hears her roommate’s voice speak the obvious. 

 

“You can’t get that glow off with a shower, baby,” Shayna says, “And even if you could, don’t you think they’ll wonder why you feel dirty?”

 

“Why the hell couldn’t you tell them I was at the library?” Grayson snaps, “Or dead? Anything would have been better than this.”

 

“Well, your bike is outside,” Shayna says, “Plus I didn’t know who they were so I just said you were in bed,” Shayna forces a coughs, “sick.”

 

Grayson pushes her way back into her room. She inadvertently slams the door and Evie awakes with a start, his eyes watching her as she grabs her keys and crosses the room.

 

“Hey,” Evie says, stretching, “What’s up?”

 

“Nothing,” Grayson says, “Go back to sleep.”

 

Then, because it’s the best plan she can compile given the circumstances, she climbs out the window. 

 

The last time she scaled the wall into the courtyard, she had been fairly drunk and trying to avoid the residential advisor who was a hard ass for the school’s alcohol policy. Not surprisingly, this time it is easier to get to the ground. Grayson checks herself in the window before she opens the door to her dorm. 

 

“There’s my baby,” Nyota says, rushing to hug her only daughter.

 

“Shayna informed us that you were ill and confined to bed,” Spock says, standing expectantly behind his wife. Grayson frees herself from her mother’s tight and prolonged grasp and pulls him into an embrace. “Your mother wanted to wake you but I insisted we wait and let you rest.”

 

“Oh, Sa-mekh,” Grayson says, “I love you. But I wasn’t sleeping. I was at the gym.”

 

She is embarrassingly proud of this lie. 

 

“The gym?” Arev says, jerking away when she goes to pinch his cheeks.

 

“That's right,” Grayson says, her body tense. Her brother is a sneaky little boy who knows too much for his own good and he is very good at ruining her life. 

 

“Why aren’t you wearing shoes then?”

 

“I was swimming. I don’t like to wear shoes after because I get blisters.”

 

“Your hair is dry.”

 

“Did I say swimming?” Grayson says watching their parents. Her mother is pulling food out of a bag and her father is examining her apartment, “I meant yoga.”

 

“But then why aren’t you wearing shoes - ”

 

“Can I get you guys anything? Water, beer,” Grayson trails off as if to suggest there is anything else to drink when in fact there is not.

 

“Do you have milk? Or juice?” Arev asks. 

 

I have a ancient can of soda which I used as a chaser, Grayson thinks.

 

“I’ll get you all waters,” Grayson says. 

 

“Thank you Grayson,” Spock says. He picks up her PADD which shows the rough draft of a article on a newly developed method of surgical nanotechnology. 

 

“My advisor says he might be able to pass that on to a scientific journal. Could you imagine?” Grayson says, watching her father for his reaction. She is so focused the cup in her hand overflows. She wonders if her father has seen that the paper was co-authored by Grayson A. Uhura and Evander L. Naccional.

 

“That’s great, baby,” Nyota says. 

 

“Yeah, good job,” Arev says, looking around. 

 

Spock is silent. Grayson mops up the water she spilt but he doesn’t comment on her paper. 

 

“So what brings you here?” Grayson says, passing the waters to her parents. 

 

Her parents glance at one another. Nyota says, “We just had some time off.”

 

“Of course,” Grayson says, cursing at herself. She must have agreed to this after while at a party or something. She quickly changes the subject to prevent herself from looking terrible, “Were you at that convention downtown? You should have told me. I could have come and seen you.”

 

“Sure,” Nyota says, looking at Spock. She shrugs at him. Now that they are here, it does seem invasive to have crossed four time zones just to see her for an evening, “But we didn’t want to inconvenience you.”

 

“It’s not an inconvenience,” Grayson says, “I have the day off. We could have gone to dinner.”

 

“Well now we’ll just go to dinner here,” Nyota says.

 

“There are like no good restaurants here,” Grayson says.

 

“Oh well,” Nyota says, “Is your roommate still here?”

 

“Can I use your bathroom?” Arev asks.

 

“It’s upstairs on the left,” Grayson says, “And yes, Mama, Shayna’s around.”

 

“We’ll have to take her to dinner too,” Nyota says.

 

“Yeah,” Grayson says, her suspicion growing as her mother rushes to tend to the homemade curry she brought, “How was the linguistics convention?”

 

“Great,” Nyota says, stocking the refrigerator with her dishes, “We heard so many wonderful speakers, right Sa-Mekh?”

 

“Yes,” Spock says, putting Grayson’s PADD down on the table. He stares at Grayson. A chill running through her body, Grayson remembers only then that her father has a very sensitive nose. 

 

Grayson runs through a dozen different excuses she could offer. None are even a little acceptable. She can’t tear her eyes away from her father who is pacing near the stairs which lead almost directly to her room. 

 

“That’s funny though,” Grayson says, watching her father, prepared to jump him if he starts climbing the stairs, “I thought it was a medical convention going on downtown. I only remember because my friend was presenting. He tried to get me tickets but he couldn’t.”

 

“It’s big city, Gray,” Nyota says, studying the magnets on the fridge intently, “There probably was more than one convention.

 

“Sure,” Grayson says, casually picking up her PADD. She is absolutely certain there is no linguistic convention this weekend. There is something going on. She turns on her screen ready to use a search engine to back up her theory when she sees what her father was looking at so intently on her PADD.

 

He was looking at pictures. Mercifully, none are that scandalous. There a few Shayna took at a party and some boring ones of a research trip Grayson took the month before but mostly Spock saw images of her and Evie together. 

 

Grayson glances up to see her father is watching her. She feels herself blush. 

 

“Where is Arev?” Nyota asks.

 

A door upstairs slams and her brother appears, a wide grin on his face as he turns the corner. A second later, Grayson understand. She hears footsteps coming down the stairs.

 

Evie is wearing boxers and an old shirt he left behind in her room a few days prior. He had tried to smooth his hair. She can tell by the way it looks even messier than usual. In the back of her mind, which is currently frozen, she remembers she had kicked his clothes behind the toilet earlier and he probably can’t remember where they are. 

 

With an enviable dignity, Evie smiles and offers his hand to her mother, “Hello. My name is Evander Naccional.”

 

“Yes. My boyfriend,” Grayson says without thinking. Evie, who had been saluting her father, looks at her. They’ve only been dating six weeks and neither have felt inclined to use any titles. She wants to step on her own foot, more horrified than she thought possible until she adds, “I mean he’s just some guy.”

 

“I’m Nyota Uhura, Gray’s mother,” Nyota says, rolling her eyes at her child who is ringing her hands and her husband who is presently standing straight and tall. It is useless; somehow both of them did not realize how tall Gray’s paramour is. Evie appears to be at least half a foot taller than Spock and the boy is not at all intimidated by her husbands preening, “And this is my husband Spock and my son Arev.”

 

“We met in the hall,” Evie says, nodding at Arev, “Are you okay? I heard a ton of stuff fall on the floor when you were in the bathroom.”

 

“I’m fine,” Arev says, “I’m sorry I woke you. I didn’t realize that door lead into Gray’s room.” 

Grayson glances up the stairs, wondering if she could realistically excuse herself. There is a smoke detector in the hall. A little smoke from a match and - 

 

Shayna appears at the top of the stairs. She sees Gray and winks before tossing something down to her. Gray crams the article of clothing into her pocket but not before she sees her father notice the underwear in her hand. 

 

There is a small comfort in knowing this cannot get any worse. Her mother is quietly laughing, hands clutching her mouth tightly, her smile deepening as she looks at Grayson. Arev’s eyes are glinting like he’s just received the best present in the universe. Spock looks like he wants to murder Evie, who is admirably smiling. Grayson catches Evie's eyes and he shrugs at her as if this is all just a funny happening and not the worst day of her life. She could kiss him if she weren’t about to burst into tears. 

 

Then, Arev verbalizes an even worse situations, an entire nightmare, with six simple words, “Want to come to dinner, Evie?”

.

.

.

“I’m so sorry. I’m sure you had something better planned for tonight,” Grayson says for the nineteenth time. They are crammed into the backseat of her parent’s rental car with Arev crushed in between them. Her brother is so compressed he is turning blue. Good.

 

“Nope,” Evie says, smiling earnestly at her, “All I wanted to do was hang out with you. I’m happy.”

 

Grayson sees her father glance back at them through the rearview mirror. She shrugs her shoulder so that Evie will remove the hand he had rested there. 

 

They finally get to the terrible Italian restaurant Grayson choose because it was the closest. 

 

When they are finally free from the car and her parents are a safe distance away, Grayson grabs Arev by the neck and whispers in his ear, “I’m going to get you back. Maybe not today. Maybe not this year. But I will ruminate on this night and I will plan a worthy retribution. Then, when you least expect it and are most ill-equipped to handle it, I will ruin your life.”

 

“Then I guess I’d better enjoy this,” Arev says, skipping ahead to grab Evie by the arm. Her brother studies the older boy’s digits and says, “Grayson was right. You do have nice hands.”

 

“What do you mean by that?” Evie asks.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” Nyota says. Grayson doesn’t miss her mother is holding onto to Evie’s arm or the way Nyota smiles the same way she always does when she’s trying to get Sa-Mekh to do something. As if intercepting Grayson’s thoughts, Nyota turns and mouths the words, ‘So handsome.’

 

“I’ll be right back,” Evie says when they are seated. 

 

Grayson can swear his strides are longer and quicker than usual. When he is out of earshot she rounds on her family, “You all doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Why? Why? Why?”

 

Spock’s eyes widen slightly.  

 

“We’re not not doing anything Gray. Stop being dramatic. It’s fine,” Nyota says.

 

He’s probably going to dump me after this and why not? My dad looks like he’s a deranged murder, my mom is hitting on him, and don’t even get me start on you, Arev.”

 

“Uncle Jim says calm down,” Arev says looking up from his communicator, “And Uncle Bones says hi.”

 

“Tell him I will calm down when my family stops trying to ruin the best relationship I’ve had in a very long time. And also hi.” 

 

“What for who?”

 

“In that order, Arev.”

 

“Oh Gray, baby,” Nyota says, the corners of her lips pinching as she reaches for her daughter, “We just wanted to know him. You’ve been so secretive.”

 

“Well, you were pretty disappointed in me last time,” Grayson says. Her eyes are beginning to burn and she hopes they think its anger and not something else that’s making her tear up.

 

She had never tried to explain it to them. When she had been dating Jason, it had all happened so slowly. She hadn’t even been able to see how bad it was until everyone else had already noticed.

 

“We weren’t disappointed in you,” Nyota says.

 

Grayson shakes her head, hushing Nyota. Evie takes a seat between Arev and Grayson. 

 

“Guess who I was just talking to?” Evie says. “Before anyone can respond, “The African Journal of Medical Robotics. They’re going to publish us.”

 

“Congratulations,” Nyota says, her tone strained.

 

“Thank you,” Grayson says. Her voice shakes. It's almost regrettable. She’s going to lose it in a cheap Italian restaurant. Under the table, she feels Evie touching her knee. She forces herself to smile at him but this only makes him squeeze her leg. 

 

“Tell us about your family,” Arev says, watching his sister.

 

“My parents are artists,” Evie says, stroking the junction between Grayson’s calf and knee with his thumb. “I have two sisters, Eirene and Anthea and one brother, Ajax. Anthie and my parents still live in Junin where I was born.”

 

“Junin,” Nyota says, nodding. No wonder her search hadn’t worked. She was looking in the wrong region, “You know Spock and I spent our honeymoon in the Tumbes region.”

 

“There are some very nice beaches there,” Evie says, “Punta sal?”

 

“Yes. We returned several years later with Grayson and our crew,” Spock adds.

 

“Ugh. I remember that,” Grayson says, “Uncle Jim nearly burned down the house trying to make us dinner.”

 

Evie chuckles, “Is your entire family fun?”

 

Grayson raises an eyebrow, “Yes. They’re all weird.”

 

“Good,” Evie says.

 

He smiles at her again and the entire dinner is that much easier. Her father talks about a recent diplomatic mission on Orion and her mother tells Evie about what Grayson and Arev were like as children. Arev listens, his eyes looking guilty until Grayson rubs the back of his neck to comfort him.

 

Halfway through, Grayson’s communicator buzzes. It’s a text from Evie, **I really like them.**

 

Grayson rolls her eyes, unable to suppress a grin.

.

.

.

“Grayson, may I speak with you privately?” Spock asks. 

 

"Sure," Grayson says, pushing herself up from the table. She gestures to the board game she is currently dominating at and tells her brother, mother, and Evie, "Don't cheat."

 

Arev glares and mumbles something. 

 

Grayson shoves his head forward as she passes, following Spock out to the front steps where there are two plastic chairs. She jumps forward to brush the dirt off both before sitting down.

 

“I was most pleased to hear about your academic success, particular with regard to your recent publication,” Spock says.

 

“Thanks,” Grayson says, “We worked really hard on that paper. I couldn’t have done it without Evie.” 

 

Spock clears his throat loudly, "Regarding your new. . . companion. Your mother informed me on the voyage here that no matter, my true opinion, I was to tell you I approved of Evander," Spock says, "I wish to confide in you, however, that I find the whole notion archaic. I am more than confident in your ability to choose your own romantic partner." 

 

"Thanks," Grayson says, "But seriously, what do you think?"

 

"I find him to be intelligent, compassionate, and an individual with aspirations very much compatible with your own," Spock says.

 

Grayson smiles so hard, her cheeks ache, "I think I did good this time."

 

"This time?"

 

"Well you know," Grayson says, examining her nails, "I thought I was damaged goods after Jason."

 

"Grayson - "

 

"It's okay though. He didn't break me," Grayson says quickly, "Now I have Evie and I just have to keep him interested. I'm getting used to being happy again. It's good."  

 

"Grayson," her father says, reaching out to touch her wrist, "The behavior of others is not reflective of your own thoughts and intentions. That boy's behavior was inexcusable but it was in no way something which you brought upon yourself."

 

Grayson's throat feels tight. It has been eighteen months, a week, and three days since Jason dumped her for his lab partner but she still gets paranoid when she hears people laughing and sometimes when someone compliments her, she questions their intent, "I know that. I do. He messed with my head though."

 

"I will tell you what I know to be true," Spock says, "You are a superlative individual. It brings me great pride to know you are my child. I hope one day you will hold yourself in high regard as you deserve nothing less."

 

Through his touch, she feels the warm sensation that is distinctly her father. It feels like a safe embrace, it feels like home, and it is deeply comforting. Grayson turns her arm to hold her father's hand.

 

"Additionally," Spock says, "Love in an instrumental value, one that has worth by its very nature. Thus, I feel it is imperative that I share with you this thought as my mother once shared with me: you are yourself and that is more than enough. A relationship should complement your life rather than add to it. It is not your place to earn someone else's affections such should be given freely and without reservation." 

 

"Okay," Grayson says, hearing every word he says.

 

Inside they hear the clatter of the board game as Arev throws it across the room.

 

"We should return. Please allow your brother to win. He requires pacification," 

 

“I will,” Grayson says. 

 

Back inside the apartment, Nyota smiles when she sees them. It has been years since she saw her daughter and husband holding hands.

.

.

.

“You seem different,” Evie says.

 

Grayson looks up from her work, “How so?”

 

“Confident,” Evie says, “Peaceful. It’s nice.”

 

Grayson smiles, her eyes down as she contemplates what he said, “I have a great family Evie. Sometimes I forget.”

 

“You do,” Evie says, “I think your parents would really get along with mine.”

 

“Maybe someday, they’ll meet,” Grayson says, holding his fingers up for inspection. The nail on his index finger is short enough. She moves on to the middle finger.

 

“Hopefully,” Evie says. His eyebrows furrow, “Why exactly are you cutting my nails again?”

 

“I’ll tell you in a minute.”


End file.
